Cloud kitchen company Curefoods plans to generate at least 15-20% of its revenue from offline stores or brand restaurants by the end of 2023, according to CEO Ankit Nagori. Nagori based his forecast on the success of Sharief Bhai, a biryani brand with five pilot restaurants in Bengaluru that collectively make 30% of the brand’s total revenue. Curefoods intends to open 30 brand restaurants this year, focusing on individual brand outlets, as opposed to the multi-brand food courts and restaurants favored by rival Rebel Foods. The stores will be located in the top six-eight Indian cities, such as Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Bengaluru. Curefoods will focus on three fast-growing brands under its umbrella, including Nomad Pizza, Sharief Bhai, and Eatfit.

To fund the offline expansion, Curefoods raised a new ₹300 crore round, among other investment areas. Nagori observed that the online food and beverage competition extends beyond food and beverage brands, affecting every D2C brand, including those in fashion, electronics, and other categories. “Every online brand is competing for the same 70-80 million customer base. This means the overall cost of digital marketing always keeps on going up and makes it expensive for a digital-only brand,” he said. While he acknowledged that there are ways to control online marketing costs and optimize them, Nagori believes that combining offline and online strategies will reduce the overall cost of acquisition for Curefoods.

Nagori expects the offline foray to help Curefoods attain company-level profitability in the next two quarters and reach a ₹1,000 crore ARR by the end of 2023.